The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington will host the symposium, Disability, Technology and Rehabilitation in Low and Middle Income Countries, on June 27 & 28th, 2013 at the University of Washington. Building off of the 2009 and 2010 workshops on Technology & Disability in the Developing World, the 2013 symposium will expand topic areas to include rehabilitation services.

Attending the Symposium

You can attend the Symposium in person or, if you are unable to travel to Seattle, you may attend the Symposium by webcast. Please register for only one of these options.

Attendees of the Symposium have the opportunity to earn up to 8.25 CRC credit hours based upon attendance of the complete conference. For all other CEU’s a letter of attendance will be provided upon request.

Symposium Objective

To bring together researchers, clinicians, consumers, consumer led organizations, policy makers, technology developers and providers, and other relevant stakeholders who focus on improving and increasing access to technology and rehabilitation products and services with the goal of ensuring full inclusion and participation for people with disabilities in low-resourced communities in low and middle income countries.

Across the broad areas of technology and rehabilitation in limited resourced environments, we are particularly interested in the following specific topics:

Policy, regulatory and funding mechanisms for supporting provision of technology and rehabilitation services

Research and evidence-based practice

Rationale

Nearly 80% of persons with disabilities reside in low and middle income countries (600-780 million people). While the size of this underserved population greatly exceeds other vulnerable populations in the developing world (e.g., HIV/AIDS: 34 million), it has received inadequate attention from practitioners and researchers in the fields of international development and global health.

With the passage of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and publication of the WHO World Disability Report (2011), there is a growing awareness of the critical need to include people with disabilities in global health and development strategies, and the essential role of assistive technology (AT) and rehabilitation in ensuring rights to health, education and employment. However, AT and rehabilitation services remain inappropriate, unavailable and unaffordable to the vast majority of people with disabilities who need it.